I was wondering if anyone had taken an antipsychotic as the result of a fear as this is something that has been mentioned for me.
Basically I have an irrational fear of vampires (even typing the word is making me cringe), now I "know" they're not real, but I sort of can't believe that they aren't, if that makes any sense at all. It causes quite a large impact on me currently as I get very scared at night, can't sleep in the dark/sleep at all or with my window open and have to have my neck covered. I also can't go out on my own at night, especially if I smell of blood.
The other night I self-harmed and needed stitches. Somehow I managed to force myself to go to A+E as it wasn't that late, but then it was walking back. I made myself walk home in the dark as punishment for being daft and going too far with my self-harm. I was terrified all the way back, I could physically feel something hovering above me. I also walked past a woman who made the sign of the cross as I passed like she was warding off evil. These past few nights my fear has been heightened because of this, also my bedroom window was left open by someone when we had a houseparty on saturday night, and this makes me feel my room is no longer safe. I also have a weird tingling feeling on my neck all the time, though it's worse at night.
There also was an incident a few weeks back where a man grabbed me when I was walking around bleeding. Everyone tells me he was real as I had bruises on my wrist, however part of me still thinks he was undead.
I know this is long, but I sort of wanted to try explain how much this fear is impacting on my life. I guess I just wanted to know if anyone else has taken an antipsychotic for a phobia, if so how did it help? Is this a usual treatment? Or has anyone tried psychological things such as CBT and if so were they effective? I just can't see how an antipsychotic is used on someone who isn't psychotic and I can't find any useful info on this online.
Thanks for reading my long ramble!
xxx
I hope you find something that helps :)
I'm just about to start CBT for a phobia that I have. I think there are many options available so it's worth talking to someone about your phobia. x
is the anti psychs what a dr or psych suggested or what you have thought? (sorry if thats a stupid question)
I think you should definately talk to a psych abou this if you havent, as you said it is having a big impact on your life and you really need to put that across when you talk to them.
I think therapy would help with the fears, maybe finding out what those fears represent will help you be able to deal with them better?
Spoons, it was something suggested to me by my support worker, my psych knows, but I can't talk to him about it as my fears are always worse around men. He knows through my support worker so I'm fairly certain it will have been him who suggested the medication, as obviously she can't prescribe.
Your right therapy does seem a more logical step, which is why I was asking the question. I guess I;m a bit scared they think I am psychotic
Anxieties with deep rooted unconscious fears can border on psychosis, but not be the 'full thing'.
I agree that therapy would be the best step forward - possibly psychodynamic based. I'm biased towards that, but it can be really really helpful where there are such 'primitive' fears. I could make a bundle of possible interpretations, but it's important that you make the discoveries for yourself. A good way to start is by looking at the vampires as a dream symbol, and freeassociating anything that comes to mind from them.
Sounds like it is worth asking for therapy. You can specify the gender of the therapist in most cases, so asking for a female may help you feel more at ease with them. Is it also worth asking if there is a female psych who can take over your case? This would make it easier for you to ask them about the medication side of things.
Sorry I cant be of more help.
Roiben
If the Human brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we wouldn't.
I think I know what you mean by that Katie. And I can probably guess the kind of things my fear could stand for. I was abused when I was younger, so there's the whole aspect of violation that being bitten would entail, the fear of the dark, the fact that men seem more likely to be what I fear. Draining of blood would make you tired much as me dealing with the abuse that happened can drain me. And then there are my fears of living too long and being evil. I have considered it in that way before, its just working out how to untangle it all. I know there is a possibility of referring me to a psychologist from late october, but I'm not sure wether that is happening or not yet. It's good to hear that such fears can't be full blown psychosis though.
I took a bulb of garlic with me on a night out tonight
its out of control
way way out of control
and there were two people, dressed in black and they stared at me. And they knew that I knew that they were vampires
I've done a little CBT based around phobias and found it helped a lot, one thing we focused on was changing thoughts into more balanced ones, like for me It's germs, but I learned about changing 'if i touch this door handle, i will get germs and die' to something like 'millions of people touch door handles every day, and none of them have died' and i find telling myself that over and over is helpful.
Hope you're okay xxx
Heartbreak, incarnate, I'm nothing if not your memories.
Frankie that makes sense as my therapist is always making me challenge my fears, e.g. if I have a good nights sleep, well its like I was safe that night, so why shouldn't I be safe the other night.
Sarah,
That's really difficult to explain. Because I "know" vampires don't exist, but like I don't believe that. And at that moment in time, I genuinely thought they were vampires, who knew I had garlic and knew that I knew what they were. But like looking back, I know they were probably just goths looking at me because I was acting oddly. It's like its a fine line between truly believing and just being scared of. At that specific point I believed in them, but now being safe and not scared, I don't quite believe in them.
I'm not psychotic but I do have a lot of "irrational" thoughts. My counsellor suggested a very low dose of quetiapine (sp) and they have been great for me. I still get thoughts but I don't obsess over them now. I take 75mg and the dose for someone who is psychotic is around 500mg. Might be worth talking to someone about? xx
